Psalms 54:3

This verse is repeated almost verbatim in Psalms 86:14 (a mosaic constructed of fragments of other Psalms), with the change, accidental or intentional, of strangersinto proud. The consonants of the Heb. words zârîm, strangers, and zçdîm, proud, are almost identical, and some Heb. MSS. and the Targ. read zçdîm here; but the rest of the versions support the Massoretic Text.

and oppressors&c. Render, and violent men have sought my life, as in 1 Samuel 23:15, "David saw that Saul was come out to seek his life." It has been argued that the terms -strangers" and -violent men" are inapplicable to Israelites, and prove that the title is erroneous. No doubt they are often used of foreign invaders or oppressors (Isaiah 25:2 ff; Isaiah 29:5; Ezekiel 31:12; cp. Isaiah 1:7; Ezekiel 7:21); but -violent men" or -terrible ones" is not exclusively so used (Job 6:23; Jeremiah 15:21), and might well be applied to Saul and his followers; while the Ziphites might be designated -strangers," in view of their unneighbourly behaviour. It is however possible that -strangers" refers to the men of Keilah, whom there is some ground for regarding as Canaanites. The peculiar term -lords" or -owners" applied to the men of Keilah (1 Samuel 23:11-12) seems to have been specially (though not exclusively) used of Canaanites. See Joshua 24:11; Judges 9:2 ff; and J. S. Black's note on the latter passage in the Smaller Cambridge Bible for Schools.

they have not set God before them They have no regard for God's will, and no fear of His judgements. Cp. Psalms 10:4-5; Psalms 36:1; and contrast Psalms 16:8; Psalms 18:22. Under other circumstances loyalty to Saul might have required the Ziphites to surrender David: as it was, they were simply fighting against God in making themselves the tools of Saul's blind rage, for it must have been well known that God intended David to be Saul's successor.